The Labor Department announced that employers added 103,000 jobs in September, President Obama addressed the Occupy Wall Street movement and Sarah Palin and Chris Christie said they would not run. The LRC panel discusses this and more. (more)

Forgive us this unabashed descent into mass culture, but our long national nightmare is over. Bristol Palin, despite some critics’ allegations of tea party favoritism, did not win on “Dancing With the Stars.” That honor (if it is one) goes to “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey, because nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin defended her use of the word refudiate, telling her critics, “Look it up in the fictionary.” While claiming that refudiate is a real word, she reserved her right to make up new words in the future.

Today on the list: The places that make the Gulf spill look like a national park, Elizabeth Warren (yay) vs. Timothy Geithner (boo), Syria bans the veil, and the strange things men pay prostitutes to do (as if you don’t already know).

Move over, George W. Bush, there’s a new language butcher and she’s on a tear. Sarah Palin loved her made-up word refudiate so much she used it twice—first in an interview and again on Twitter. Realizing she blew it, Palin corrected the word to refute but then used it incorrectly. Eventually, she compared herself to William Shakespeare and called it a day.

Good for the NAACP. We need an honest conversation about the role of race and racism in the tea party. Thanks to a resolution passed this week at the venerable organization’s national convention, we’ll get it.

“We’ve tried containment domes, rubber tires and even golf balls,” said William Cathermeyer of the National Oil Leakage Institute, a leading consultancy in the field of oil leaks. “Now it’s time to shove some BP executives down there and hope for the best.”

I’m with Sarah Palin on this one. Her new neighbor, it turns out, is author Joe McGinniss. Coincidence? I think not. McGinniss wrote an unflattering profile of Palin for Portfolio magazine last year, and he’s now writing a book about the former Alaska governor.

Sarah Palin has had ample time now, outside the crash course of a presidential campaign, to develop and exhibit some understanding of the issues. Her learning curve, from all the available evidence, is a flat line.

Remember that guy who allegedly broke into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account back in 2008? Well, it turns out he’s in federal court in Knoxville, Tenn., facing 50 years in the slammer if convicted of the criminal charges.

According to a source close to Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, they have already drawn up a list of possible candidates for the additional two horsemen, a list which includes Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter and the entire Cheney family.

Ernest Logan Bell, a 25-year-old Marine Corps veteran walking 90 miles to make a point, is the new face of the resistance. He is young, at home in the culture of the military, deeply suspicious of the federal government, disgusted by the liberal elite, unable to find work and angry.

This is—no joke—how Sarah Palin began her speech to the tea partiers: “I am so proud to be an American. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Do you love your freedom?” She then thanked the troops for her freedom, repeated that she was proud to be an American and said, “Happy birthday, Ronald Reagan!”

America’s most famous crybaby was just vicious to Sarah Palin. He asked her who her favorite founding father was ... and ... she ... froze. In other news: Privacy is for old people, it looks like the Jews didn’t build the pyramids, and someone was arrested for interfering with Tiger Woods’ right to sell Gatorade.

The self-described pit bull made her punditry premiere with a guest spot on Bill O’Reilly’s show. O’Reilly wanted to know why liberals are so threatened by Palin (it’s the hair) and whether she thinks Nancy Pelosi is actually crazy. Someone get that man a falafel.

According to the muckrakers at TPM, some independent media types were refused entry to a “Going Rogue” event in the world capital of Sarah Palin, Wasilla, Alaska, because their names were on a “banned list.” (continued and video)

It’s time to add “former” to the Alaska governor’s title. So now that Sarah Palin is a free woman, what will she do with her time? Her friends and flacks aren’t giving anything away, but we already know she has plans to hit the rubber chicken circuit, campaign for like-minded politicians and write a book.

The Alaska governor tells her Twitter followers “elected is replaceable;Ak WILL progress! + side benefit=10 dys til less politically correct twitters fly frm my fingertps outside State site.” Palin indicates in a more recent message that later this month she will launch a personal Twitter account for nonstate business and, presumably, more quotes on the nature of quitting.

Al Franken left showbiz to prove himself a serious policy wonk as well as a devoted family man; Sarah Palin transformed herself and her family into a reality television show. Their long, odd trips reflect the journeys of their respective parties.